


It's a Promise

by tinymarvels (Captain_of_the_sass)



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: AI Tony Stark, Angst, Comatose Tony Stark, Controlling Behavior, Evil Steve Rogers, Hydra Steve Rogers, M/M, Steve wants his Tony back, he's a bad guy here sorry, not really shown but implied
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-14
Updated: 2019-03-14
Packaged: 2019-11-17 21:12:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18106559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_of_the_sass/pseuds/tinymarvels
Summary: Tony just wants to check in on him- to see Steve's face if only for a second. Just a peek wouldn't hurt anything, right?Wrong.





	It's a Promise

**Author's Note:**

> Wow it's been ages. I'm finally planning to update my unfinished fics but in the meantime I wrote this to go along with a sketch I did.
> 
> This is loosely inspired by the events that followed Civil War II in the comics.

        Tony's not real. Not anymore. He's an AI- a series of ones and zeroes. Nothing but a complex digital replica of one of the smartest minds on the planet. Because that mind is dead now. Well, not dead. Not yet.

        Real or not, the curiousity Tony felt was impossible to ignore. He knows that Steve's not himself anymore. Dark. Evil. _HYDRA_. The vibes radiating off of him were as black as his redesigned suit, those red tendrils wrapped around him like a brand. The greatest man Tony's ever known has gone to the wrong side, and Tony just can't understand why this new Steve would waste his time breaking into Stark labs. Surely he had something better to do than hold vigil over the comatose body of a washed-up has-been hero? Honestly, Tony's waiting for Steve to kill him. His body's just lying there in its stasis chamber, looking strangely at peace, completely defenseless. It would be easy. It would be the smart thing to do. Certainly this Steve has nothing to gain from keeping him alive.

        His first mistake is projecting himself. It's a habit, a way of easing the sense of dysphoria he gets from being completely disconnected from the physical plain. He's a holigram, slightly transparent and casting no more a faint blue glow into the room. His second mistake is assuming that just because he makes no sound Steve won't be able to sense his presence. Tony doesn't need to breathe like this, and his footsteps make no noise. He feels prefectly safe standing on the other side of the room just staring at Steve's back, trying to quell the ache he feels at the sight of him.

        And when the man breaks the silence with a low "Hey." Tony turns to look behind him, thinking Steve must be talking to someone else. When he turns back those blue eyes are staring straight at him. Tony freezes. Feels pinned down. Steve looks tired, and his expression is closed off and cold.

        "I was wondering when I'd see you." the man says, "I heard Tony had created an AI for himself. Didn't know..." he trails of, looking Tony up and down. Those familiar lips twitch into something of a wistful smile. "You look just like him."

        "I look like a blueberry." Tony finds himself saying. Everything in him is screaming that he needs to get away; disappear into the safety of numbers and code. Steve's eyes hold him in place. "Why are you here, Steve?" Tony sighs. Slowly, the supersoldier turns toward him.

        "I missed you," he murmurs, "I wanted to be with you."

        Tony laughs a little, but it sounds shaky and broken. "Can't say I'm very good company, being comatose and all."

        Something comes over Steve's face, something unsettling. "And yet here you are." he says.

        "What, _this_?" Tony gestures downward to his holographic image, "This isn't real." he sticks a hand through his own stomach and wiggles his fingers, "You can't touch me. Can't hold me. I'm nothing but data...I'm not _him_." He jerks his head in the direction of where Tony- the original Tony- sleeps soundly.

        "Really?" Steve purs, lips curving up into a smirk like splintered glass, "You talk an awful lot like him." Steve starts prowling closer and Tony finds himself stumbling backward- all the while Steve keeps talking; "You act an awful lot like him."

        Tony comes to the wall and has nowhere left to go without vanishing, and Steve's arm comes up to cage him in, those damn eyes so fucking close now. Steve looms over him, inhaling as if he could catch a ghost of Tony's scent.

        "You react to me the same way he would. Instinctively. Even if you know I can't touch you, you instinctively react like I could." Steve's not smiling anymore and Tony swallows, entranced.

          "You know what I heard, Tony?" Steve whispers, leaning in close to Tony's ear, "I heard that there's more to you than you want me to think. I heard that you found a way to harness extremis- and that you used it to link yourself to the files containing a digital copy of yourself. Do you know what _I_ think? I think you're him. Not a copy. Not an imitation." Steve licked his lips, "You're the real deal, and you're _**mine**_. Sit back and watch, because I swear I'm going to bring you back."

 


End file.
